


When You're Broken

by iwantausername



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Christopher Diaz is a National Treasure, Domestic Violence, Eddie Diaz Loves Evan "Buck" Buckley, Eddie Diaz Loves Evan "Buck" Buckley's Daughter, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Eddie Diaz are Besties, Evan "Buck" Buckley Has a Daughter, Evan "Buck" Buckley is a Parent, Evan “Buck” Buckley loves Christopher Diaz, F/F, F/M, Howard "Chimney" Han & Maddie Buckley are Parents, Hurt Evan "Buck" Buckley, Injured Eddie Diaz, Injured Maddie Buckley, M/M, Protective Firehouse 118 Crew, Protective Maddie Buckley
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:22:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29603793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwantausername/pseuds/iwantausername
Summary: What if Buck had been the one married to Doug?
Relationships: Bobby Nash & Athena Grant, Bobby Nash/Athena Grant, Eddie Diaz & Christopher Diaz, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Athena Grant, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Bobby Nash, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Christopher Diaz, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Eddie Diaz, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Henrietta "Hen" Wilson, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Howard "Chimney" Han, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Maddie Buckley, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Henrietta "Hen" Wilson/Karen Wilson, Howard "Chimney" Han & Maddie Buckley, Howard "Chimney" Han/Maddie Buckley
Comments: 57
Kudos: 283





	1. Family Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> So I spent the last week binge watching the first 3 seasons of 9-1-1 to get caught up for season 4. I want to apologize now because it has been years since I've written anything. Anyway, I thought I would give a little information for the story to make sense. This is a "What if it had been Buck married to Doug instead of Maddie?" scenario. In this Maddie moved to Los Angeles for college, has been with Chimney 6 years, and they have two daughters. Bobby and Athena are also already married. Eddie and Christopher are also already living in Los Angeles. Eddie has been raising Christopher alone since he was 2 (instead of 6), and there will be a different backstory between Eddie and Shannon then canon. Please, if there are any mistakes let me know. I know my writing isn't the greatest. I try to proof read my work before I post, but I still miss things. I will try and post at least weekly, if not twice a week as I have new chapters. Thank you and enjoy!

A slight breeze rustled the trees outside the window as Maddie Buckley Han settled her four year old daughter into bed. Pulling the _Frozen_ blanket up to the little girl's shoulders, she smiled down at her child. Reaching up to push a strand of chestnut brown hair from her daughter's face, Maddie smiled again as the girl's nose scrunched up and her almond brown eyes opened.

"Hey," Maddie whispered, "Go back to sleep, baby."

The girl snuggled deeper under the covers and shut her eyes. When Maddie believed she was falling back to sleep she stood up and headed for the door, turning on the fish bowl night light on the child's play table in the middle of the room as she passed. She had just reached the door, hand hovering over the light switch to turn out the overhead light when she heard shuffling behind her.

Turning to look, she smiled once more as the little girl was sitting up in bed. Maddie sighed and turned back to her daughter, "Olivia."

The girl looked up at her name being called and smiled, "Momma."

With another sigh, Maddie crossed back over the room to the bed, gingerly sitting on the edge as Olivia laid back down once again. Maddie readjusted the blanket over the girl's shoulders, leaving her hands on either side of her child's head and just smiled down at her. Olivia giggled and smiled back before getting a more serious look on her face.

"What's wrong, Lulu?" Maddie shifted, bringing her leg up on the bed, bent at the knee.

Olivia looked at her mother, "Is Dad home?"

Maddie shook her head, "No. Remember this afternoon we told you he was working the night shift. He wont be back until you're at school tomorrow, but you'll see him when you get home."

"Oh."

It was so quiet but Maddie still heard the huff exit her daughter's mouth.

"Tell you what, I'll make sure Daddy picks you up from school and the two of you can go have a Daddy Daughter date." Maddie smoothed out the blanket over her daughter.

"What about you and Bethy?"

Maddie nodded, "Well then Beth and I will have a Mommy Daughter date." At the frown on her daughter's face, Maddie continued. "And next week we'll switch. How does that sound?"

"Yeah!" Olivia squealed a little too loudly.

"Okay, but you have to go to sleep now," Maddie leaned forward and kissed her daughter's forehead. "Otherwise you'll be too tired after school to spend with your dad. He'll have to bring you home so you can go to sleep even earlier."

Olivia scrunched her nose but nodded, rolled to her side and closed her eyes. Maddie huffed a laugh and shook her head. Sometimes her daughter reminded her so much of the person she had been named for. She could still remember when she had learned she was pregnant with her first daughter. She and Howard had only been dating eight months. It had came as a shock to the couple. They had been scared, but Maddie knew instantly that she wanted her child. She was very happy when Howard felt the same way.

After a moment of watching her eldest, Maddie knew she had to go and check on her youngest. She had put two year old Elizabeth to bed before going back for Olivia, who had fallen asleep on the couch after dinner. Maddie stood and returned to the door, flipping the overhead light out and closing the door only halfway before she crossed the hall and entered her youngest room.

Elizabeth was sound asleep in her crib, bottle still in hand. Maddie reached in and took the bottle from her little hand and just listened to the little huffs of breath. Elizabeth had been another surprise for the couple. Olivia had been a year and a half when they learned they would be adding to their family once again. When they had learned they were expecting another girl, they had agreed instantly to name her for Howard's late mother.

Just as she was grabbing the baby monitor off the dresser at the door, lights moved across the room through the window indicating a car had pulled into the driveway. The way the shadows moved, whoever it was had pulled around the circled drive in front of the house. With a final glance at the crib, Maddie closed the door halfway like she had with Olivia's door before turning the corner and heading downstairs.

The stairs being right in front of the front door helped as an advantage point but because it was dark outside, Maddie could only see the shadowy figure of someone walking up her porch. She stopped at the bottom step, baby monitor and empty milk bottle in her left hand, right hand held onto the bannister. She panicked as the seconds ticked by with no doorbell ringing or knocking.

She knew it wasn't her husband. First, like she had told her daughter, Howard was working the night shift. Second, even if Howard had somehow come home early he would have called or texted Maddie on his way home. It was just their way. Whenever either of them were heading home from work, they would always, _always_ , let the other know.

It had started shortly after Olivia had been born. Maddie had been home alone with the then four month old when she had seen movement at the door. Thinking Howard was home from work Maddie, with her daughter in hand, had opened to door, to find a man wearing a ski mask and holding a crowbar standing there. Maddie had screamed and tried to close the door but the man had shouldered his way inside.

Maddie shivered at the memory. Thankfully that day she and her daughter had survived. The man just locked them in the downstairs closet while he ransacked the place. Howard had found them there almost three hours later. From that day they started the messaging. They had moved into their current house just six months later.

Maddie looked up when she saw the shadow move on the porch again, but this time she realized it was moving back down the stairs. Taking a deep breath, Maddie rolled her eyes and stepped off the last stair. What if it was one of Howard's coworkers? One of hers? What if it was her brother-in-law?

Setting the items in her hand on the table by the door, Maddie flipped on the porch light quickly. She moved the blinds out of the way just slightly to look out the window. What she noticed first was a tall man wearing a dark jacket and jeans. The second thing she noticed was the baby carrier in his right hand. The carrier was facing her and Maddie could see movement inside. So the man had a child.

With another breath Maddie moved over to the door, unlocking the deadbolt and pulled it open, leaving the screen door between her and the stranger, who was still facing the street, and what she assumed was his silver jeep in her driveway.

"May I help you?" She called out to the man.

She watched as the man seemed to struggle with his decision to turn around and answer or return to his vehicle. Maddie looked the man up and down now that she could see him a little clearer, she really needed to wash the damn windows. He had slightly long-ish brown hair that curled behind his ears. He looked to be very well built, Maddie could definitely tell that this man was either very muscular or was wearing clothes too small for his frame.

"Sir?" Maddie tried again.

The man's shoulder's slumped and he turned around. Maddie's breath hitched, and her eyes widened as she realized who was standing on her porch.

"Evan."

It was just a whisper but the man smiled.

"Hey, Maddie."

"Evan!" Maddie almost squealed as she pushed at the screen door, itching to grab her baby brother.

The door didn't budge and Maddie frowned as she looked down, huffing in annoyance as she realized it was locked. She heard her brother chuckle as she unlatched the lock and swung the door wide as she practically flung herself at her brother.

The man, Evan, caught her in one arm as he took a slight step back to stop them from toppling down the steps behind him. Last he would want is for either of them to get injured, especially the child in the car seat in his occupied hand.

Maddie's arms wrapped around her brother's shoulders and her cheek pressed against his as she hugged the man she hadn't seen in four years. Not since her wedding to Howard. She had sent many letters and pictures to her brother, but never got a single response back. She never even knew if he got any of them.

She could feel the tension in her brother's body as she hugged him but then, slowly, he began to melt against her. His arm tightened around her middle and his face found the nook of her neck. He sighed into the hug and closed his eyes.

They stayed like that for a moment, just relishing in the fact that brother and sister were reunited after so long apart. They didn't pull apart until little snuffles could be heard coming from the carrier. Maddie took a step away, her arms dropping down to her sides as she looked at the child in the carrier. The baby couldn't have been older then a few months.

"You and Doug had a baby?"

Maddie didn't miss the flinch at her brother's significant other's name but she chose to ignore it, for now. She looked back up at Evan, and dammit she still couldn't believe he was so much taller then her now that he was grown. She stood at a mere 5'2" while she knew Evan was reaching around 6'2", a good foot taller.

"Evan?"

"No," Evan shook his head and looked down at the baby before looking at his sister once again. "Grace and I had a baby."

"You and Grace?" Maddie was more confused now, then she was moments ago finding her brother standing on her porch at nearly nine at night. "You and Grace... had a... baby?"

Evan laughed, "She wanted a kid and asked me to be the father." He looked down at his child again. "Didn't really expect to be in her life though, let alone be raising her now."

"Oh." Maddie nodded and then what he had said registered, "Oh! Grace..."

"Died giving birth." Evan nodded, a sad look in his eyes.

Maddie bit her bottom lip as silence fell upon them, Evan's daughter having fallen back into her slumber. Then Maddie realized where they were still standing.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. Come inside." Maddie turned to open the screen door and ushered her brother and niece, and oh my god that was something she'd have to get use to, into the house. Evan stood awkwardly by the stairs as Maddie relocked the screen door and then closed and locked the front door before turning to her brother with a smile.

"Come in, sit down. Would you like something to drink?" Maddie turned to her left and walked into the living room, grabbing the baby monitor and empty bottle as she went, continuing into the kitchen at the back of the house.

Evan slowly followed. Once they were both in the kitchen, Evan carefully placed the car seat onto the breakfast table. He turned to see Maddie looking into the refrigerator.

"We've got ice tea and lemonade."

"Ice tea sounds good."

Maddie nodded and pulled the pitcher of dark liquid from the top shelf, placing it onto the kitchen island counter as she hip bumped the fridge door closed with a snap. She then pulled down two glasses from the cupboard next to the fridge.

Evan pulled out a chair and sat down while looking around. The downstairs was an open concept. You could see the whole living room from the kitchen and out the large front bay window. To his right there was another sitting room with a fireplace, sunken into the ground with two small steps. The only room divider was the stairs just slightly to Evan's back. He could see a door he assumed led to a pantry under the stairs, or stairs for the basement. Around the opposite side of the stairs was a hallway that led back to the front door, with a hall that branched off towards what Evan assumed was the garage.

"So," Maddie sat down in the chair next to him, placing a glass of tea in front of her brother, holding her own on the table. She glanced at the carrier once more. "How old is she, and what's her name?"

Evan took a large gulp of his tea before answering. "She's two months old, and her name is Lily." Evan took another, smaller sip. "Liliana Grace Buckley."

"That's beautiful." Maddie smiled at her brother.

"Grace already had the name Liliana picked when she learned she was having a girl but when she..." Evan swallowed hard and Maddie could see tears springing up in the corner of his eyes. "When I got the call and learned she had lost too much blood, that they couldn't save her. I knew Lily would have her name too."

Maddie was so sad for her brother. She wanted to cry for him as he looked like he was trying not too. She couldn't remember a time growing up that Grace Tilsley wasn't at their house playing with her brother. The little girl and her parents had moved in across the screen from the Buckley's when Evan was just six. Grace was five. Maddie had been fourteen at the time and ended up babysitting Grace often for the girl's parents. At first Evan couldn't stand her. She would follow him around like a puppy and he hated it. Then he grew to love having her around.

As they grew older, they grew closer. Both sets of parents, the Buckley's and the Tilsley's, believed they would be high school sweethearts. Their mothers were already planning a wedding and grandchildren for the pair and neither Evan, nor Grace, had come out to say they were ever dating.

And then one day, at sixteen, Evan was caught making out with a boy from down the street.

From that day Maddie watched as Evan and Grace stayed close as they dated a pair of twin brothers. But when Grace came home crying a week before prom their senior year, saying that Dylan Peterson had dumped her for Rachel King, Evan came home with a black eye the next day and bruised knuckles. A call from the principal to their parents told Maddie that Evan and Dylan fought.

Evan had broken up with Dylan's twin brother Cody the same day and announced in a tone that booked no questions or arguments from their parents that he would be taking Grace to prom.

"And Buckley?"

"I wasn't going to give her that man's last name." Evan bit out.

"Evan, it's your last name too." Maddie placed her hand over her brother's on the table. "He's your husband. How did he feel about all of this?"

Evan looked at his sister's hand over his before making eye contact with her. "He didn't know."

Maddie sucked in a breath. "What do you mean? Having a child is life changing. Yes, you were helping Grace have a child, but you're still this little girl's father."

"I wasn't suppose to be." Evan shook his head, bringing his hands up to his eyes and pressing hard. "Grace was going to have the baby and then move to New York." Evan's hands dropped to his lap and he looked at his sleeping daughter. "I was never meant to be in her life."

"Okay." Maddie was still confused as she sat back in her seat. "So obviously Doug found out after Grace died and you suddenly had an infant."

Maddie watched as fear coated her brother's eyes and he looked around like he was afraid someone was going to jump out at them.

"Evan?" Maddie tried to get his attention. "Evan, where is Doug?"

Evan's attention snapped back to his sister, "Boston."

"Okay," Maddie nodded, starting to get a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. "And where does he think you are?"

Evan's shrug was her only answer.

Before she could ask again there was a wail over the baby monitor Maddie had placed on the counter when they had entered the kitchen. Maddie stood and went to the fridge, pulling out another bottle before turning back to Evan.

"Just give me a few minutes."

Maddie headed upstairs to Elizabeth's room, entering to find the little girl standing in her crib, hands holding the side, trying to pull herself out. Maddie shushed her as she picked her up, cradling her in her arms. Elizabeth quickly took the bottle her mother offered once she was in the nook of Maddie's arm. Maddie paced the room as Elizabeth drank from the bottle and her eyes began drooping closed once again. Carefully, Maddie placed her daughter on the changing table to quickly change her diaper before settling her back into her crib. She waited a moment before returning downstairs to her brother.

She found Evan had moved while she was upstairs. He was now in the den, looking at the family photos on the mantle. There were a total of nine framed photos. The center was of her and Howard's wedding; to the left was Olivia's baby picture and to the right was Elizabeth's.

The other three to the left where of Maddie's family. The first a picture of a family portrait in front of their house when Maddie had just graduated high school, Evan had only been ten at the time. The second a picture of Evan and Maddie when her brother had graduated high school; and the third was of a boy maybe three years old and looked a lot like Evan, but wasn't.

The three final photos on the right side of the mantle were of Howard's family. The first a picture of his late mother Elizabeth; the second of Howard's adoptive parents John and Anne Lee, with their boys: Howard and Kevin. The pair were fifteen at the time the photo was taken, just weeks after the couple had adopted Howard. And the third was of Howard and his paternal younger half-brother Albert, that photo had only been added to the mantle a little over four months ago when just like Evan this night, Albert had shown up unannounced six months ago.

It seemed that this was the year for family reunions.

"He tried to kill us when she was only a week old."

Evan had his back to her as he studied the photographs. His statement so normal sounding, like he was talking about the weather. Maddie bit back a sob as her brain caught up with what her brother had said, realization that she apparently almost lost her brother, and a niece she didn't know about until tonight, two months ago.

Evan turned to look back at her, his hands clasped behind his back. "He failed, obviously. But it was close." Evan's hands fidgeted. "He beat me pretty badly."

Maddie stepped closer.

"Lily was asleep in her cot upstairs but I could hear her screaming. Doug had turned and headed for her." Evan hiccupped, Maddie now noticing he was crying too. "I couldn't let that happen. He was already halfway up the stairs before I could even get off the floor. But once I was up." Evan shook his head and took a deep breath. "I caught up and grabbed his leg. We both tumbled down the stairs. I think..." A shaky breath. "I think he hit his head because he wasn't moving and there was blood pooling. I struggled to get back up, Lily was still crying. I got upstairs and to her, but after I had her in my hands and turned around..."

Another shaky breath and Evan looked at Maddie who had made her way into the den and was only feet away from him now. "I locked us in the bathroom. He just continued to pound on the door. It felt like hours before I heard someone crash through the front door downstairs. At first I thought he had gotten through the bathroom door. A neighbor had called the cops after hearing a commotion."

"He was arrested?"

Evan nodded and sucked his lips into his mouth before taking a slow breath out, this time more even.

"I spent a week in hospital while Grace's parents looked after Lily. They helped me leave the state when we learned he was released."

"What?" Maddie's eyes widened, "He almost killed you and he was released from jail!"

"He's friends with the police chief." Evan huffed. "Apparently been sleeping with the guy's son for years behind my back."

"Oh, Evan." Maddie reached for her brother and was happy when he allowed her to pull him into another hug.

Maddie use to like Doug. Key words: _use to_. When she had first met the man, Evan was nineteen and had brought him to family dinner at their parents during Christmas. Maddie had flown back to Pennsylvania to see her family during the holidays. She had heard a little about Doug from phone conversations with her brother, but had yet to meet the man.

She had been more then shocked when Doug turned out to be six years older then herself, and she was already eight older then Evan. Six months later Maddie had returned to Pennsylvania for Evan and Doug's wedding. The following year her parents, Evan and Doug had flown out for her wedding to Howard. That had been the last time she saw or spoke to her brother. Until now.

She had learned from their parents not long after that her brother and his husband had moved from their hometown in Hershey, Pennsylvania to Boston, Massachusetts. Maddie never understood why, her brother was going to college. He wanted to be a lawyer. Or so she thought. She had gotten an address from her parents weeks later and she sent weekly letters with photos of her girls, but never heard a response back. She learned it had been the same with their parents.

Maddie sat herself and Evan down on the couch, still hugging. She just held her brother, rocking slightly, as they both silently cried. She didn't know how long they sat there but eventually Evan had fallen asleep. Maddie carefully got up and laid his head down on the couch, adjusting his body so he was stretched out, or as best as his 6'2" frame could be on her small couch.

She pulled a blanket that sat folded under the coffee table free, shaking it out, and laid it across her brother's body. As she had done with her daughter upstairs earlier, Maddie leaned down and pushed a strand of hair out of her baby brother's face before she stood up straight and looked to the sleeping newborn on the table.

With a sigh, she walked around the couch and up the two steps to the table, carefully grabbing the carrier. As much as she didn't want to leave the baby in the stupid thing, they had thrown out the baby cot they used for the girls after it had broken; and Maddie didn't think Evan would do good waking to find his child gone if she went and placed her in the crib with Elizabeth.

Plus Maddie wasn't fully comfortable with that idea since Elizabeth was much bigger then this little one. She was a little over two years old, and totally getting too big for her crib now, and Lily was only two months old and so tiny. Maddie feared if she placed her niece, yeah still weird, in the crib something would happen.

Instead she placed the carrier on the coffee table right in front of Evan, that way it would be the first thing he saw when he awoke sometime hopefully in the morning, or earlier if the little one woke first. As she was grabbing their only half drank glasses of tea, Maddie realized Evan hadn't brought in a diaper bag.

Returning to her brother's sleeping form, Maddie crouched down and carefully lifted the blanket to reveal Evan's jacket he never took off, also eying the shoes he never removed either. Ready to leave at a moment's notice. And that scared her a little.

Carefully Maddie felt in his jacket pocket and instantly found his car keys. Just as quietly she moved from the den and down the hall back to the front door. Slipping on her shoes, she unlocked and opened the doors, grateful she had left the porch light on as she stepped outside.

She jogged down the stairs and up to the jeep as she hit the unlock on the key fob in her hand. She popped open the passenger backdoor first, seeing the connector for the car seat to snap into, and a diaper bag on the floor!

Grabbing the bag, she glanced over the back seat into the trunk and saw a foldable playpen, a duffle bag, and a lockbox. Pulling the diaper bag with her, she closed the door and rounded the car, pulling the trunk open. Grabbing the duffle bag, she unzipped it just enough to see it was full of clothes, both for Even and a baby.

Zipping it back up, she snatched it up along with the folded playpen and closed the trunk, making sure to lock the car back up before returning to the house. She sat the stuff down, locked the doors back up, and switched off the porch light as she slipped back out of her shoes.

Grabbing the items back off the floor Maddie returned to the den. Evan was still sound asleep, but Lily was awake, seemingly taking in her new surroundings. Maddie smiled down at her as she placed the duffle bag in the recliner chair kiddie corner from the couch, and leaned the playpen against the arm.

Taking the diaper bag however, she unsnapped the buckles of the carrier and released the newborn from her restraints. Arms flailed as she lifted Lily to her chest but quickly settled as she was nestled against Maddie. Digging through the diaper bag at the kitchen table she located a diaper, clean bottle and can of formula. Maddie quickly went about changing the little girl and feeding her a nice warm bottle before burping her, and then rocking her until she was back to sleep.

Once that was done, Maddie returned her to the carrier, making sure to snap her in carefully. The diaper bag was placed next to the coffee table and then Maddie was grabbing a pen and pad of paper off the desk in the corner of the room. She quickly jotted down a note to Evan, placed the pad on the table next to the car seat and went about turning out lights, leaving a small lamp in the main living room on. It gave enough glow to the downstairs without being too harsh in the den to allow sleep.

She grabbed the baby monitor as she left the kitchen. Double checking the door was locked, Maddie headed back upstairs. She checked on her girls once again before heading into her own room to finally go to bed for the night.

As she sat on her bed, now in her own night gown, Maddie vowed to talk to Evan more in the morning. Thankfully she had the weekend off from work after having worked almost three straight months. She needed to know why, if he ran from home when Lily was only a few weeks old, why had it taken Evan two months to show up? Why hadn't he called her?

She just needed more answers. And sleep. With a sigh, she got under the covers, turned off the lamp to her left and closed her eyes. It took a while before sleep took her.


	2. A Day in the Buckley-Han Household

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I would throw in here that unless a middle name had been given to a character canon-wise (aka Bobby's is Wade), I used their actor's name (some I didn't use the actor's, but pretty much all I did). Same goes for their birthdays and as far as I could remember, no birthdays had actually been announced expect for maybe birth years, so I used the actor's birth days and months.
> 
> Thank you all for the comments and kudos on the first chapter.

He was balancing between awake and still asleep, a sense he was being watched. Really it was more then a sense, he could feel someone leaning near his head, breath rolling across his forehead. The presence didn't feel threatening and that had Evan keeping his eyes closed. A whisper bringing a breath of more hot air into his face changed his mind.

Evan opened his eyes and instantly jerked his head back an inch as he was met with the dark brown eyes of a little girl. He instantly knew who she was from the constant photos in his sister's letters. Elizabeth looked just like her mother.

"Hi," the two year old whispered again, closing the inch of space Evan had just created.

"Hi." Evan answered back.

"Hi."

Evan smiled, "Hi."

The little girl giggled, the sound making Evan's smile bigger. "Hi."

Evan went to open his mouth to return the greeting once again when Maddie's voice floated over to him from behind where he laid on the couch.

"She'll stop if you stop saying it back to her."

Evan chuckled as the little girl squealed and ran around the couch. With a yawn, Evan slowly sat up, stretching his aching muscles as he did so. Taking a second to look around, his eyes fell upon the carrier on the coffee table in front of him. The empty carrier.

His breath hitched and his heart stopped as he sprung to his feet. Where was Lily?

"Evan, relax." Maddie came around the couch, Lily in her arms.

Evan looked down at the little girl and could breath again. With a mumbled sorry, Evan took his daughter into his arms as Maddie handed her over.

Maddie hummed. "She got fussy and you were still sleeping. She's been changed and fed."

Evan cradled Lily in his arms, almost like he would break her but Maddie watched as suddenly he softened and looked up at her.

"Thanks."

"Of course." Maddie smiled. "Family takes care of each other."

A flash of sadness darkened Evan's eyes before he shook his head. He understood what his sister was telling him. It's why he had finally made his way to Los Angeles after the last two months wandering the states between Massachusetts and California. After he had first left Boston, had left Doug, he had been too afraid to show up on his sister's doorstep right away.

He knew Doug would think that's where his first stop would be when leaving. He didn't want the man to find him and Lily, but he didn't want to put his sister and her family in danger either. It had taken him two months to finally talk himself into showing up. Four years without contact with his sister hurt worse then the bruises and broken bones from his husband.

He was just glad his sister never stopped sending her letters. It was the only thing Doug never stopped him from having, though he would open them and burn the envelope with Maddie's address, he'd let him keep the letters and photos, even if he couldn't write back.

And then one day a year ago Doug was gone on a doctor's conference, or so he said he was, and a letter from Maddie came in the mail early. Evan was able to write down her address and tuck it into one of the older letters and lock it away for safe keeping. It took him a year before he had the courage to pull that address out and put it into his GPS.

Evan was brought out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. He jumped at the touch but he saw Maddie pretend to not notice as she smiled at him.

"Are you hungry?"

It was at that moment Evan's stomach growled loudly. The siblings both laughed as Evan followed Maddie around the couch and back into the kitchen. Elizabeth was playing with some large Lego blocks on the floor between the kitchen and main living room. One had slamming a block into another, the other holding a bottle to her mouth as she sucked down the milk with relish.

It was then he noticed a baby swing under the window that separated kitchen and living room. He looked back at his sister and she nodded.

"Howie brought it up from the basement last night." Maddie shrugged. "Couldn't bring myself to throw anything out after Beth was too big for any of it."

Evan chuckled as he stepped up to the swing and buckled Lily into it, turning it on to rock lightly. He took a moment to just watch his daughter. He still couldn't believe he had a daughter. When Grace had first approached the topic with him the year before he had initially said no. He didn't think he could bring a child into this world knowing there were people like his husband that could, and would, pray on them as they got older.

When Grace had returned a few days later and asked again, he made her promise that she would leave Boston. It hurt. After he had moved to Boston with Doug and was suddenly isolated from his family, from everyone he knew, all he wanted was one person on his side, _by his side_.

And that had been Grace. Less then a month after moving to Boston she was knocking on his front door. She had up and packed her whole life in Pennsylvania and moved to Boston to be by her best friend's side.

After all, she was the only one who knew about the truth of his marriage.

Sure Evan had assumptions his parents knew since he saw them many times a week when he still lived in Hershey for the first year after marrying Doug. The abuse didn't start until Evan was tied to the man as his husband. He had been played, sweet talked into believing Doug loved him. Maybe deep down the older man did, but it wasn't the type of Love Evan wanted.

Then Grace died and Evan was the father of a little girl who needed him to be safe in order to keep her safe. So once he was out of hospital Evan showed up at the hotel where Grace's parents were staying, caring for their granddaughter. He told them everything.

It was a testament for how much Rick and Lesley Tilsley cared for the boy who stole their daughter's platonic heart.

Evan had wanted to leave Lily with them, felt safe leaving her with them. Until they disagreed. They told him as much as they missed Grace, and fuck so did he, and they couldn't fathom parting from their only grandchild, they had to. Because if she was left with them, Doug _would_ use them, and her, to bring Evan back.

They both needed to disappear.

Not forever, they had promised. They promised one day he would be able to return to his real family with his little girl and he'd be able to move on with his life. He'd be able to raise his daughter, find someone new who would love and treat him the right way. Evan never believed that last part, but he was hopeful for the rest.

So he ran. A single bag of clothes for the both of them, a playpen and diaper bag for Lily... and a lockbox full of the most precious items he owned that was not his newborn daughter. The Jeep had been a present from Maddie when he had graduated from high school. When he had moved to Boston he left it in Grace's possession and her parents returned it to him.

"So how is Howard?" Evan asked as he sat down at the table with Maddie.

His sister had already made him a plate of pancakes with bacon, setting the strawberry jelly on the table next to his plate. He smiled as his sister remembered he didn't like syrup with his pancakes but jelly instead. The food wasn't exactly hot anymore but after living on gas station food and lunchables, and god how had he even liked those things as a kid?, for two months, it was heavenly.

"He's good. He came home this morning, surprised to see you sleeping on our couch." Maddie placed her arms on the table as she leaned forward, wrapping her hands around her glass of water. "More surprised by the presence of the baby."

Evan eyed his sister with his head ducked. Swallowing the bite of bacon in his mouth he asked, "What did you tell him?"

"Nothing about Doug. Just about Grace, and Lily, and that you needed to get away for a while to collect your thoughts."

With a sigh, Evan nodded and continuing eating.

"It's not my place to tell the other side of the story." Maddie continued. "But I do have to ask."

"Why it took so long for me to reach out?" Evan sat back as he dropped his fork to the plate with a clatter. Maddie nodded. "He wasn't always like that."

If that wasn't what his sister was expecting him to say, she hid her shock well. Evan scrubbed a hand over his face. He was still so tired. Two months literally on the run, constantly looking over his shoulder sucked for his sleep.

"It didn't start until a few weeks after we got married. I dropped a plate, something that had belonged to his great grandmother." Evan closed his eyes. "Before I could even move, could apologize, he backhanded me."

A sharp intake to his left had him opening his eyes, but he wasn't looking at anything. His eyes unfocused as he continued. "It didn't happen often. If he was in a bad mood after work, lost a patient or just anything, was usually what set him off. Then it was my inability to have dinner for him, even if he was coming off a 24-hour shift at three in the morning when I'm already asleep."

He took another deep breath. "And then we moved to Boston and suddenly it was weekly, then daily. He found any excuse. And I..." He swallowed, looking down at his half finished plate of food and shrugged. "And I made up every excuse not to leave."

"Momma."

The little voice broke through both siblings' horrible thoughts. Both looked down at the little girl patting Maddie's leg to get her attention. Maddie shook her head, wiped her eyes and smiled.

"What's up baby girl?" Maddie picked her daughter up and sat her in her lap, Elizabeth's back to her chest. Maddie kissed the top of her dead.

"So where's Howard now?" Evan changed the subject, "And your other little one?"

Maddie nodded, allowing the change of subject. "Howie took Olivia to school. He should be back soon. I was suppose to, he just got off a 24-hour shift at the firehouse but since you were here we both thought it would be better if you woke to me here and not him."

Evan frowned, "I'm sorry."

Maddie shook her head, her hand snaking across the table to rest near where Evan had placed his own a moment ago, but not touching. Now fully knowing what her brother had been through, she wanted him to be the first to initiate the contact. Even if she did want to just wrap him up in her arms and never let go.

Evan's eyes were watery but he refused to let more tears fall. He had done enough of that over the last five years, over the last two months, hell last night curled in his sister's arms, finally, _finally_ , until he had fallen into the first restful sleep he'd had in years.

"Okay, so," Maddie cleared her throat as Evan's pinky taped hers on the table. "We've got four years to make up for. What have you been doing?"

Evan laughed and it made Maddie so happy to hear.

His hand not on the table came up to rub the back of his neck. "I uh, I actually joined the fire department."

"What!?"

"Yeah," Evan nodded. "After your wedding. Talking with Howard about what he did, what he does. I started thinking and I liked the idea of being able to help others... since I couldn't help myself." Evan looked to his sister. "Yet."

"Are you going to stick with that?" Maddie asked, "Being a firefighter?"

Evan shrugged. "I haven't thought about it. It's been almost three months since I've actually worked."

They fell silent for a moment until Maddie asked, very quietly. "Are you staying in town, or are you going to keep running?"

"No," Evan shook his head and took a deep breath. "I don't want to run anymore."

"Good!" Maddie stood up with Elizabeth on her hip. "Because I already told Howie we're cleaning up the basement for you. There's a bedroom and bathroom down there."

"Maddie, what.."

"Well if you're staying, you're staying here." Maddie looked down at her brother. "As long as you _need_. As long as you _want_."

Evan fought back the tears and nodded through a smile. His sister beamed down at him, planted a kiss on his head like she use to when he was younger and turned towards the living room. It was then he heard the front door open. For a second he panicked but then he heard his brother-in-law's voice and he relaxed again.

He didn't know if he would ever get to the point of not fearing that any moment Doug would show up, but he knew here and now, for this moment, he was safe and loved in his sister's home.

Evan stood as Howard came into view from the living room.

"Hey, Evan." Howard took a step forward to hug Evan, "It's good to see you. I'm sorry about Grace."

Howard had only met Grace once at Evan's wedding to Doug all those years ago but he had spent hours the day before the wedding hearing all sorts of childhood stories about the two best friends, so he felt like he knew her.

Evan only hesitated for a second before he wrapped his arms around Howard and hugged back. "Thanks, and it's good to see you too." He pulled away a little quickly and Howard eyed him for a second before turning back to Maddie behind him.

"Alright, I'm going to shower and get some sleep before Lulu's off school." He kissed his wife and headed for the stairs.

Maddie nodded and turned back to Evan. "You can leave Lily up here since that swing put her to sleep, I've got the monitor. Or you can bring her downstairs with us. There is a playpen she can sleep in."

Evan chewed on his lower lip for a second before going over to the swing and unbuckling his daughter, carefully lifting her up. She whimpered at the movement and opened her eyes. A wail soon followed. Evan bounced her carefully as he turned around.

Maddie was already grabbing the diaper bag for him. She pulled the formula and a bottle out. Evan went to grab them as he held Lily in the nook of one arm but Maddie waved him off as she sat Elizabeth on the counter, pointing a finger and telling the toddler to stay. Elizabeth giggled but scooted further on the counter, her head coming to rest on the upper cabinet.

Maddie was quick to make the bottle and hand it over to Evan. Lily's cries had lessoned but she latched onto the nipple of the bottle the second her daddy placed it against her lips.

Maddie smiled as she picked Elizabeth back up from the counter. "You're a natural."

Evan didn't say anything but he didn't need too. As he fed his daughter, he followed his sister through the door by the kitchen table, the one he thought was either a pantry or stairs. He had been correct as they descended into a large basement.

To his right was the largest open space. A flat screen television sat sunken into the wall, two closet doors on either side. A large black leather L-shaped couch took up a decent portion of the open space in front of the television. Behind the couch was a play area for his nieces, sectioned off by a toddler fence. To his right was an open door and when he looked inside he noticed it was a bedroom, but there were boxes stacked everywhere.

Turning back to his sister he followed her further into the basement. Maddie sat Elizabeth into the play area just as she pointed Evan towards the smaller playpen sat against the wall around the corner from the stairs. Evan let Lily finish her bottle first before checking her diaper. It was dry but he knew that wouldn't last long now that she had eaten again. He placed her on her back in the empty playpen and stood up straight.

"So, we just need to move the boxes from the room there," Maddie pointed towards the room where Evan had seen the bed as they entered the basement. "It had all been shifted out six months ago when Howard's brother Albert showed up. He moved out to his own place last month and everything was moved back."

Together the siblings worked effortlessly. They chattered about what each had been up to the last four years since they're last real interaction together. Topics purposely stayed away from Doug. By noon they had finished moving all the boxes from the basement into the garage. Lily had woken twice to be changed.

Howard joined them back in the kitchen for lunch. The siblings had worked together once again effortlessly as they made sandwiches, Maddie making sure to keep the mustard away from her brother as he was allergic. Once lunch was done and cleared away, Howard returned upstairs for a few more hours sleep before he had to go and pick his daughter up from school.

Maddie and Evan settled into the living room. Elizabeth was down for her nap upstairs, and Lily was nuzzled into Maddie's arms as she sat with her back to the arm rest in order to face her brother, her legs crossed in front of her. Evan sat at the opposite side of the couch in a similar position, one leg bent in front of him, the other with his foot flat on the ground.

He had finally removed his jacket and shoes.

Two hours later Howard left to pick Olivia up from her school and take her out for ice cream and the park. The only time Maddie or Evan left the couch, stopped talking, was when Lily or Elizabeth needed something.

Once Elizabeth was up from her nap she was ready to play with the new person in the house. She constantly brought him toys from the wooden chest in the corner of the living room. By the time Maddie had told her to stop a good sized pile of toys had accumulated on the couch next to Evan. He helped his niece return them all to the toy box.

As five o'clock had rolled around Maddie had pulled her phone from her pocket asking what Evan would like for dinner. She was going to order as Howard and Olivia should be home by the time the food arrive.

They had settled on Chinese takeout which Maddie knew she had to cook up some hot dogs for the girls. The only thing they would eat when Maddie and Howard ordered from a Chinese restaurant was the rice. They weren't exactly picky eaters, but they didn't like the breading on most of the chicken or pork items, and hated shrimp.

Maddie had been correct. Just as she was thanking the delivery driver, Howard came around the corner with a skipping Olivia in front of him.

"Hi, Mom!" Olivia came to a stop on the porch right in front of her mother and smiled up at her.

"Hey, baby. You have fun with your dad?"

"Uh huh," the little girl nodded enthusiastically as she followed her mother into the house. Howard was right behind him.

The three of them headed into the kitchen, passing where Lily was sound asleep in the baby rocker again. Maddie placed the food on the island counter. Elizabeth was already in her high chair at the table eating a cut up hot dog and some grapes. Evan was placing the last plate on the table and looked up to see his second niece and brother-in-law, a smile on his face.

Olivia turned when she saw him and stopped, backing into her dad's legs. Howard placed his hand on his daughters head and looked down at her.

"It's okay, Sweetie." Howard spoke to his daughter. "This is your uncle Evan. He's mommy's brother."

Olivia looked up at her father. "Like Uncle Aly is yours?"

"Exactly."

Olivia looked back at Evan and tilted her head like she was contemplating something. Then with a shrug she dislodged her dad's hand from her head and bounced over to her uncle. Evan crouched down to be level with her as she stopped right in front of him.

"Hi." Evan smiled at her.

"Hello!" And she stuck her hand out to him.

Evan laughed as he took her hand gentle in his and shook it. "I've actually met you before."

Olivia's head tilted to the right, "When?"

"You were only a few months old, younger then your sister so you wouldn't remember."

Her nose crinkled and looked over at her sister. Maddie came over and crouched down next to her daughter, placing her hand on the small of her back.

"Lulu do you remember when we told you, you were named after someone very special to mommy?"

Olivia nodded and Maddie continued. "Your uncle Evan's middle name is Oliver. That's the boy version of your name."

"Oh!" Olivia looked at Evan with bright eyes, "We match!"

The adults all laughed. Evan nodded his head, "Yeah, we do."

After that Maddie helped Olivia wash her hands while Howard and Evan piled food onto plates. As they were all starting to settle down at the table to eat dinner, Olivia insisted she sit next to her favorite uncle.

Of course Howard was not going to be telling Albert about that.


	3. Halloween and Get Togethers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took so long, I meant to have it up days ago but life sucks sometimes. It's kind of a mess of a chapter, everything in it was actually suppose to be three different chapters but there was a lot I wasn't liking from each of them so I just took the parts I liked and combined it into one. Sorry about that but I hope you still enjoy.

Sitting on the edge of his bed in just a towel, Evan ran a second towel through his hair, soaking up as much water as possible from his shower. He stretched his back out as he did so. It was hard to get use to his body not actually hurting in some sort of capacity. Before, before he never went more then a day or two without a new bruise marring his skin, a new sprain or broken bone; now here he was three months gone from that source of pain.

Evan knew he wasn't fully safe, and he was still struggling. A few times in the last two weeks he knows he's woken his sister and brother-in-law with his nightmares. He was always questioning if showing up on Maddie's doorstep that night was still a good idea. Of course Maddie and Howard both told him that yes, they wanted him there. They preferred knowing he was with them and safe, then not knowing where he was and if he was okay.

Evan had taken a few days to finally tell his story to Howard about why he was really there. Evan had only met the man a handful of times when Maddie had started dating him, and then married him. Their wedding had been the last time he'd seen him. Four years ago. But Evan knew the man was perfect for his sister, and just from her letters over the years and the now two weeks he had been living with the couple, Evan was glad his sister had created such a good life for herself.

Having only been ten years old when Maddie had left home, Evan hadn't understood why. Why she had left him alone with their parents. It wasn't like they were abusive, they weren't bad people. But they were people who probably shouldn't have had children. Or at least that's what Evan always believed. They never seemed to care what Evan did unless he was being reckless and getting injured. So that's what he did. Biking, skating boarding, climbing trees, whatever he could do for the attention he wanted.

But the older he got, the more that attention faded. When he was nineteen and met Doug, everything changed. Doug was attentive, caring, loving. But then he wasn't once he had Evan to himself. Evan couldn't fully remember the exact moment Doug's persona changed, it was subtle. Moments of not allowing Evan to spend time with his family or friends, then criticizing everything he did. And then they moved away from everything Evan knew, everyone he loved, and the abuse had started.

Evan was brought out of his musing by a knock on the half closed door. "Yeah?"

The door was pushed open and Maddie stuck her head in, "Morning."

Evan smiled at his sister. "Morning."

"Breakfast is ready," Maddie smiled back at her little brother.

"Okay, thanks." Evan nodded, "I'll be up shortly."

Maddie nodded back and left, a soft click closing the door behind her. Evan moved from his spot on the bed and rummaged through his bag of clothes, quickly getting dressed in a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. He tossed the towels in the hamper by the door and made his way upstairs, running a hand through his still damp hair as he went.

Evan hadn't really left the safety of his sister's home in the two weeks he had been there other then out into the backyard to play with his nieces, or help his sister and brother-in-law to decorate around the house for Halloween. The spooky holiday was only in a few days and usually the couple decorated at the beginning of the month but they were both so busy with work and the girls they hadn't gotten around to it, but now that they had a third pair of hands, they finally did.

Now the house had spider webs with plastic spiders in almost every corner, inside and out; a skeleton sitting on the porch swing; and fake tombstones scattered throughout the front yard.

It wasn't until later in the day that Maddie had asked Evan to join her and the girls at the park for the afternoon. He had hesitated for just a moment before nodding and agreeing. He knew that he needed to start living his life again. Evan still wasn't sure what he wanted to do. He missed being a firefighter, it was the one thing back in Boston that actually made him happy, besides the times he spent with Grace; but because he was away from Doug at those times. He could pretend to forget about his abusive husband for hours at a time.

Evan and Maddie sat at a picnic table a little away from the other families milling around the park. Olivia and Elizabeth were playing in a sandbox just to their right, while Evan used his foot to slowly rock the stroller that held Lily.

"Will you be alright here to watch Beth if I take Lulu to the bathroom?" Maddie asked from his left.

Evan looked at his sister and blinked. He hadn't even seen his niece walk up to them, now leaning against her mother's leg. He swallowed and nodded. Maddie patted his arm before lifting Olivia into her arms and standing, making her way towards the bathroom just down the pathway behind them. Evan looked around and his eyes landed on Elizabeth still playing in the sand, or eating the sand as he now noticed. Evan snorted as he stood, moving the stroller to make his way over to his youngest niece.

"Are you suppose to be eating that?" He asked as he knelt down on the edge of the sandbox, his knees digging into the hardwood that outlined the box.

Elizabeth looked up at him and giggled, thrusting a fist full of sand towards his face. Evan wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "No thanks, I'm full already."

Another giggle, sounding more like from an older child, came from behind him and Evan shot up and spun around. A man stood behind him, holding the hand of a child maybe six or seven years old. The man held his hand up in surrender.

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

Evan took a deep breath, to calm his beating heart from nerves or from seeing this gorgeous man standing before him. The man had short brown hair and hazel eyes that seemed to be digging into Evan's soul.

This man now in front of him cleared his throat and carefully stuck his hand out. "I'm Eddie, a friend of your sister Maddie and brother-in-law Howard."

Evan blinked and then smiled, taking the man's hand. "Sorry, yeah I've heard some about you. You work with Howie." Evan pulled his hand away a little too quickly. "I'm Evan."

The man, Eddie, nodded and looked down at the stroller. "Christopher saw Maddie take Olivia into the bathroom and then we spotted Beth here, and you, thought we'd come and introduce ourselves. Again, sorry if we scared you."

"No, no, it's fine. Just wasn't expecting it." Evan shook his head and turned towards the little boy who was beaming up at him. "You must be Christopher then."

"Yup!" The little boy's smile seemed to grow.

There was an awkward silence only broken by Beth tugging on Evan's pant leg. He looked down at the little girl and huffed a laugh as she reached up to him. Her indication that she wanted to be picked up. Evan bent down and pulled her into his arms before turning back to Eddie.

"Would you guys like to join us?" Evan nodded back towards the table they had originally been sitting at.

"Sure." Eddie nodded and once seeing Evan trying to figure out how to maneuver the stroller back through the uneven grass to the table while holding Elizabeth in his arms offered to help. Eddie took hold of the stroller and as did Christopher.

Together they made their way back to the table. Eddie stopped the stroller and locked it in place with ease while Evan sat down so he could use his foot to rock it once more, Elizabeth now sitting in his lap, facing him and playing with the pocket of his hoodie. Though it was pretty warm outside, Evan was still use to covering his body from the cold of Boston, and from prying eyes seeing his bruises. Eddie sat down a few inches from him and whispered to his son that he could go play but to stay within sight. It wasn't until the kid was walking away that Evan even noticed the crutches the kid had been carrying.

"He has CP." Eddie stated.

Evan nodded, not needing to know anything else. Maddie joined them soon enough as the two men caught sight of Olivia running back onto the playground and up to Christopher.

"Hello, Eddie." Maddie smiled at the other man.

"Maddie," Eddie nodded. "How have you been?"

"Good, great actually." Maddie smiled at her brother as she sat down next to him. "I've got my baby brother back in my life, and a new niece."

Eddie laughed and nodded. The group continued to talk while Christopher and Olivia played together. Elizabeth stayed occupied with toys at Maddie's feet while Evan and Maddie both took turns holding Lily when the baby had woken. Evan even found himself allowed Eddie a chance to hold the two month old when she had grabbed onto Eddie's finger.

After an hour of the kids playing Maddie and Evan had packed the girls up in Maddie's car and said goodbye to Eddie and Christopher. Maddie found herself watching the way both Eddie and Evan looked at one another as they said goodbye and she couldn't help but smile. She could instantly see a spark between the two men. In her mind she knew that Evan was technically married but she was hoping now that he was settling down with a new life that maybe he'd file for divorce from Doug and move on. And see something between her brother and Eddie Diaz, she hoped it happened.

She knew it would take some time to talk Evan into filing for divorce, knowing that as soon as he was served, Doug would know where Evan was, if he didn't already. She was hoping to talk with Athena about it in hopes they could take extra steps to keep Evan and Lily safe. She knew the firehouse families were going to get together for a Halloween party in just two days and she was working to get Evan to agree to come with them. She wanted her brother to make friends in helps for his new life.

Two days later Maddie had gotten her way. She, Howie, Evan and the three girls stood outside Bobby and Athena's house. Olivia was dressed as Elsa while Elizabeth was dressed as Anna, both from _Frozen_. Evan had found a little pumpkin outfit for Lily and he couldn't deny, she looked the cutest. None of the adults were dressed up. The party was mainly for the kids, and then the group was going to go together with the kids trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.

Howard knocked on the door and within seconds it was swinging open. Bobby smiled at the group and ushered them inside. "Hey, right on time."

"Are we the last one's here?" Maddie asked as she excepted a hug from Bobby. The girls had already ran off for the treat table where Athena gushed over their costumes and handed them each a cookie.

"No," Bobby shook his head, "Hen and Karen haven't arrive with Denny, yet."

Maddie nodded and then turned towards Evan, "Bobby this is my brother, Evan. Evan, this is Captain Bobby Nash."

"It's nice to finally put a face to the name and stories from Chimney." Bobby held out his hand to Evan.

Evan shook the man's hand with a smile, "Same. So since I'm meeting everyone officially tonight, do I, uh, get to finally learn why everyone calls Howard, Chimney?"

"Uh, no." Chimney shook his head as he walked further into the house to greet Athena.

Bobby laughed, "Maybe another time for that story."

Evan nodded and followed his sister into the house, the car seat with his daughter in hand. He stopped at the bottom of the steps into the living room when he spotted Eddie and his son. Christopher was playing with another little boy. They were both dressed as Power Rangers; Christopher was green and the other boy was red, their masks laid out on the coffee table. Shaking his head, Evan continued to follow Maddie and Bobby over to the treats table where he was introduced to the boy, Bobby's stepson Harry, and Bobby's wife Athena. Evan also gave a wave to Howard's brother Albert who was standing nearby. They had met just four days after Evan had arrived on his sister's doorstep when the other man had shown up for the weekly family dinner the Buckley Han's had. Both Maddie and Howard seemed happy their younger brother's got along.

Ten minutes later Evan was being introduced to Hen and Karen Wilson, and their son Denny, who was also dressed as a Power Ranger, this one yellow. Everyone fawned over the kids but it seemed Lily, being the youngest, was getting the most attention from the woman of the rag tag family. Evan had panicked at first when he realized Maddie no longer had Lily in her arms when he turned to ask her something, but when he noticed the little bundle of pumpkin in Athena's arms, he relaxed. Having only heard stories of the firefighters of the 118 from Howard, and just now meeting them all, he trusted them already. He knew within this group that considered each and every one of themselves a family, Evan knew he and Lily were safe.

An hour later found the whole group minus Athena's teenage daughter May and her two friends outside the house. They were all getting ready to take the kids trick-or-treating through the neighborhood. May and her friends were staying behind to give out candy to other trick-or-treaters. Evan had pulled out the stroller he and Maddie had bought for Lily, clicking her car seat into it so he didn't have to carry her the whole time. As the group headed out, Bobby and Athena led the march with the five kids, Albert holding the hands of both Olivia and Elizabeth, taking it slow for Christopher using his crutches. Hen, Karen, Howard and Maddie followed. Evan was last but soon found Eddie falling in step with him as they followed the group down the sidewalk.

"So how are you liking L.A.?" Eddie asked, glancing down at Lily in the stroller. She was content watching them while she sucked on a pacifier.

"It's hot for October." Evan laughed, "By now Boston is usually getting cold."

Eddie nodded, a chuckle falling from his lips. "Yeah, Chimney told me you are from Boston."

"Well, technically from Hershey, Pennsylvania." Evan stated, "Moved to Boston with my hu.. ex."

"Maddie told me you were married."

Evan sighed, "Recently separated. I uh, haven't filled for divorce just yet. I plan too, it's just... complicated."

"I've only know you a few days but I'd like to offer if you ever need to talk." Eddie shrugged.

"Thanks," Evan smiled at the other man, "I may just have to take you up on that."

"Anytime, day or night." Eddie added, clapping Evan on the shoulder.

Evan found himself not flinching away and his smile grew.

Two hours later the group was back in the safety of the Grant Nash household. The kids were gathered around the coffee table, including May, her friends having headed home once everyone returned, trading out candies they didn't like for candies they did from each other. May was just stealing candy from each of them, laughing when they just rolled their eyes at her. The whole time the kids were trick-or-treating Evan and Eddie stayed towards the back of the group talking.

Evan had learned Eddie had only learned about Christopher when his son was two years old and the kid's mother, Shannon, had shown up, handed him to Eddie, and disappeared. He had been a single father since. Eddie learned about Grace and how Lily came to exist, and how Evan was now a single father. He didn't question why Evan's husband seemed to have nothing to do with the little girl.

Over the next month Evan became really good friends with the 118 family but mainly with Eddie and his son. Christopher loved hanging out with Evan and his daughter. It had been Christopher calling Evan 'Buck' that got everyone else to do so as well by Thanksgiving. The firehouse family had gotten together for the holiday once again and now almost two months living in Los Angeles, living with his sister and her family, making friends, Evan was finally starting to relax and feel at home. He had even agreed with Maddie about filing for divorce, so the day before Thanksgiving he did. He knew it was a gamble, he was sure Doug already knew exactly where he was. He was just hoping the older man had decided he wasn't worth the trouble and leave them alone.

By Christmas Evan and Eddie had started going out on coffee and lunch dates when Eddie had the time off from work. Then it was turning into movie nights at the Diaz household. Sometimes Evan would bring Lily, sometimes Maddie would keep her. Sometimes Evan would fall asleep on the couch and Eddie would drape a blanket over his shoulders and shoot a text to Maddie to let her know her brother was staying the night.

Christmas Eve was a combined fifth birthday party for Olivia and Christmas party for the family at the Buckley Han household. Everyone had a good time, celebrating with a _Frozen_ inspired Christmas birthday party.

Evan and Eddie shared their first official kiss at the stroke of midnight New Year's Eve at Bobby and Athena's as the family gathered to celebrate the new year together.

Two weeks into the new year, Evan and Lily moved out of the basement of Maddie's house and into their own two bedroom apartment with the help from the whole family.

At the start of March Evan "Buck" Buckley was a firefighter with the 118.


	4. Apartment Fire and Twisted Ankles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so since it took me so long to give you guys chapter three, here is chapter four just a few hours later! I kinda had fun writing this chapter, but I will tell you, I have no idea what I am talking about when it comes to building fires. I've only ever seen one in my life, it was bad (nobody hurt) but I was just a bystander, so forgive me.

"Hey!"

Evan stopped and turned to where he heard the voice behind him, a smile splitting his face when he spotted Eddie jogging to catch up to him. Evan had just gotten into work, his second week with the 118, with his new family, and it seemed Eddie had only been a few minutes behind him. Evan waited for the older man to catch up before they stepped in stride with one another as they headed through the open bay doors of the firehouse.

"You just drop Christopher off at school?" Evan asked as Eddie wrapped an arm around his waist and squeezed his side.

"Mmhmm," Eddie nodded, his head turned into Evan's shoulder as he kissed the younger man's shirt. "Lily?"

"At daycare with Beth."

They tried not to show a whole lot of PDA when at work but seeing as they spent their first full weekend away from one another since they started dating four months ago, Evan leaned more into Eddie's side. Christopher had gotten a cold from school and they had learned the hard way in early January that Evan's immune system wasn't the greatest and being around Christopher caused him to get sick and in turn got Lily, Olivia, Elizabeth and Maddie all sick by the end of the month. So when Christopher fell sick once again, Evan was ordered by Maddie to stay away until he was over the worst of it. That had meant the whole weekend. His only moments of contact had been facetiming Eddie once Christopher was asleep for the night.

"Morning, boys." Hen smiled as they passed where she was taking stock of the ambulance.

"Morning," They said in unison as Evan gave her a quick wave.

Her chuckles followed them into the locker room where Eddie finally pulled away from Evan after one final squeeze to his side so they could go to their separate lockers and get changed into their uniforms. Another firefighter, Henley, a tall stocky red hair man with a rich beard and all, was sitting on one of the benches tying his shoes.

"Morning Eddie, morning Buck," Henley said as he finished and stood, "You two have a good weekend?"

"Christopher was sick," Eddie frowned, "Spent the weekend keeping him comfortable."

Henley nodded and turned to Buck as the blond pulled his shirt over his head to be replaced with his work shirt. "Spent the weekend redecorating Lily's nursery. Decided I didn't like the pink. It was too much."

Eddie laughed as he buckled his belt, looking to the side at Evan. "What color did you end up going with?"

"A pale orange." Evan shrugged and turned back to Henley, "How was your weekend?"

"Good, proposed to Vanessa."

Eddie looked up with a smile, "And?"

"Of course she said yes, we've been together since high school. If she had said no, I don't know how we had made it sixteen years together."

Eddie and Evan both congratulated the man, each giving him a hug. He nodded his thanks and made his way out of the locker room, leaving the boys to finish getting ready. Evan loved being at the 118. He had only been with the group two weeks and they made him feel like he was one of them since day one. He was sure it helped that he was Chimney's brother-in-law... and dating Eddie - a secret they couldn't keep a secret because Evan's brother-in-law had no idea what secret meant.

But he didn't care. It felt so good to be working again, to be able to help others again. Even when he had been a firefighter back in Boston, he wasn't close with anyone there. He was afraid to get close to them, afraid they would see through his smiles, through his façade of a happy family life. Here he didn't need to worry about that because he was actually happy. He had his sister back in his life, he had a brother-in-law, two if you counted Albert, he had a boyfriend that was the total opposite of what Evan ever knew about love and dating, he had two wonderful nieces and an amazing daughter. He was building the life he had always wanted.

Just as Evan buckled his belt and Eddie tied his shoe, the bell rang out for a call. Evan quickly slipped into his shoes, not bothering to tie them, and they both rushed out to grab their turnout gear and jump into the truck, already listening to Bobby rattle off the information about an apartment building fire. When they got on the scene it was like a silent chaos. The cause was already known, a fault space heater. Evan looked at Eddie questioning why someone would be using a space heater in the middle of March in L.A. and Eddie just shrugged. They turned their attention back to Bobby as the captain began giving out orders.

Eddie and Evan were send into the building to help evacuate, along with Henley and Peters, a short and strong middle-aged woman with long raven black hair always in a braid. The fire had started on the third floor and they had to move past to reach the top two floors where people were trying to clamber down the stairs, choking on the rising smoke. They passed Henley and Peters on the fourth floor, both nodding to let Eddie and Evan know they needed to continue to the fifth. With a nod back they continued. Quickly but efficiently they each took a side of the hall and knocked on doors, checking apartments to make sure they were empty. At the end of the hall Evan found a young girl and her mother passed out in their kitchen. He called for Eddie over the radio and together they grabbed the pair, double checking nobody else was in the apartment, and made their way back down.

As they reached the second floor stairwell there was a rumble through the building and Evan had to lean his back against the stairwell wall to steady himself, lifting the little girl no older then Christopher, higher into his arms. Eddie had been next to him and had sat himself down on the stairs, the mother slung over his shoulder.

"You okay?" Evan yelled to Eddie as the older man stood and waited a second to steady himself.

Eddie just nodded and continued down the stairs, Evan right behind him. Evan heard the tell tale signs of ceiling cracking above them as they reached the foyer of the building. Henley and Peters were waiting at the doors for them, grabbing for the mother to help Eddie finish carrying her out. Evan was only a few steps behind when he felt it. The floor shifted. With panicked eyes at Eddie, now empty handed turned around, Evan nodded to him. Eddie knew exactly what Evan was about to do when he stepped back through the door and reached out, grabbing the child as Evan did his best to toss her away from himself and harm.

And then the floor, and Evan, were gone.

Eddie felt someone's hands on his shoulders as he was pulled back out, watching as the floor caved where Evan had just been standing. Henley and Peters had to hold Eddie back from running back in after Chimney had taken the little girl from his arms. The mother had woken up as they were leaving the building and was screaming for her daughter, they were eager to reunite mother and daughter.

"Buck?" Bobby was standing next to Eddie now, speaking into his radio. "Buckley, do you copy?"

There was only static on the other line as they all held their breath. They had to step back to the trucks away from the building as more and more started to crumble away. Henley still had his hand wrapped around Eddie's bicep, ready to hold him back if he tried to race back inside.

"Hey, Cap."

Everyone sighed with relief as Evan's soft voice came over the radio.

"How you doin', kid?" Bobby quickly asked, "Are you hurt?"

"Um," They heard some shifting, "Not sure. My leg hurts but I don't think it's broken. Don't think I'm bleeding either. Maybe just some cuts on my face from falling debris."

"Okay, that's good," Chimney cut in, "Did you hit your head when you fell?"

"Hey, Howard, uh no. No, I landed feet first, that's why my leg hurts." Evan laughed, then coughed.

"Okay, Buck. What do you see around you." It was Bobby again.

"I can see the stairs that lead back up to the foyer but there is a lot of ceiling pieces in my way." Evan replied, "I could climb up and over but if any of it shifts, I can see a gap between them, I'd get stuck if I fell through."

Bobby run a hand over his face and looked around before turning back to his radio. "Any windows on the sides?"

"Too small for me."

"Dammit." Bobby muttered, forgetting he still had the button held down on his radio for Evan to hear him.

Evan laughed. "Okay so not the greatest odds but if someone is able to get to the basement door and help me, I think I can get up the stairs."

"I'm going." Eddie took a step forward.

"I'll go too," Chimney added, "Just in case he's more hurt then he realizes.. or is telling us."

Bobby nodded, "Go around back, the basement door is closer and maybe the floor isn't collapsed there."

Both men took off for the building, heading for the back. Chimney had a medical bag with him. The fire was still blazing, a second firehouse had shown up to help, but the rumbling had stopped and so had the crashing pieces of the building. They seemed to have a slight reprieve in disaster as they waited. While still trying to put out the flames through the third, and now second story windows, everyone waited with bated breath for anything to signal they had gotten not only their youngest firefighter, but their probie from the building. It seemed like hours passed before they heard a beep on the radio and Eddie's voice rang out.

"We've got him!"

Bobby could here a few soft cheers behind him from the rest of his team but he didn't breath again until he saw his three men come around the side of the building a few minutes later. Chimney and Eddie were supporting the younger man as he tried his best to walk on his own two feet back to the trucks. Hen and Peters had already left with the mother and her daughter in their ambulance so they escorted Evan to the other firehouse's ambulance. Evan sat down on the bumper and took a deep breath as Eddie pulled his helmet and mask off for him.

He let Chimney, another paramedic whose name Evan didn't know, and Eddie look him over for injuries. His right ankle had been twisted in his fall but wasn't broken, not even sprained. It was going to be swollen for a few days though. He had minor cuts up his neck and on his face but nothing that needed stitches. They had pulled his turnout coat off carefully when he was complaining of some pain on his left side, and lifted his shirt. There was already bruising forming but both Chimney and Zander, Evan caught the other paramedic's name, concluded he didn't have any broken ribs. Bobby still ordered Evan to the hospital to be checked over a second time, just in case.

Three hours later Evan returned to the firehouse with Eddie, using crutches to stay off his now wrapped ankle. Eddie helped him up the stairs into the loft and onto the couch in the living space. He grabbed a pillow off the couch and sat it on the coffee table, carefully lifting Evan's leg to rest his ankle and foot onto the pillow. Evan leaned his head back and blinked as Bobby swam into his vision above him, hands on his hips and a deep frown on his face.

"Hey, Cap!" Evan smiled, "Just a swollen ankle. Doc says to stay off it a few days."

Bobby nodded as he looked over the younger man. "You got lucky."

Evan's smile faltered and he nodded, "I know. But I knew I wasn't going to get out of it when I felt the floor shift. I just didn't want that little girl to go down with me."

Bobby reached down and squeezed the blond's shoulder. "You did good, Buck."

Evan's smile was back as he looked up at Bobby again. "Thanks."

Bobby gave his shoulder another squeeze before he huffed and turned away, heading for the kitchen. "Just try not to do it again."

Evan laughed and turned his attention back to Eddie, who was now sitting on the coffee table next to his foot. Eddie had a soft smile on his face but Evan could still see the fear in the older man's chocolate eyes. Evan lifted his hand and Eddie quickly grabbed hold. Evan squeezed to prove he was still there. When Bobby had ordered Evan to the hospital it was without question that Eddie would be going with him. The second crew was already taking down the fire with the rest of the 118, Bobby wasn't worried now that all his men and woman were out of the building. Eddie hadn't released his hand except for when they had taken Evan back for x-rays on his ankle and the bruising on his side. Once he was back in his cubicle in the E.R. Eddie was right back to holding his hand. The adrenaline had worn off from Evan and the younger man just smiled sleepily at him.

Once he had been released on orders to rest a few days and to stay off his foot, Evan had made Eddie take him back to the station. They still had hours left of their shift. Eddie had protested but in the end Evan had won. Within minutes of Eddie having him settled on the couch many had come over to check on him. Hen brought more pillows, fluffing them around him; Chimney brought him his phone from his locker and the book he had been reading on downtime; Henley handed over a sketch pad and pencil from his own locker; Jackson, a small petite blonde brought over a blanket and covered him in it; and Bobby made sure he had a nice hot bowl of chicken noodle soup. Evan just smiled and thanked each one as they did something else to make him comfortable on the couch while they worked.

Evan was left alone three times until the end of shift from calls.

Then it was end of shift, Eddie helped him down to the locker room where they changed and then headed for Eddie's truck. Without a word, Eddie headed for the daycare to pick up Lily, a car seat now a permanent fixture in his truck along with Christopher's booster seat, it just made it easier then always having to take Evan's jeep when they had the kids together, there was also a booster seat in the Jeep. Eddie had ran into the daycare to pick up the little girl, his name already listed as a pickup and emergency contact other then Maddie and Howard. Once Lily was buckled into her car seat, babbling happily about something and chewing on the ear of her stuffed rabbit Christopher had bought her for Christmas, Eddie jumped back into the truck and turned them towards home. They knew Christopher would already be there with his caretaker, Carla Price.

In such a short time Eddie couldn't believe how much he and Evan had combined their lives. Since Evan had moved into his own apartment two months ago Eddie had found himself with a drawer and a third of a space in the closet for his own clothes, as well as a bed, dresser and toy chest for Christopher in Lily's nursery. It went the same way with his home. Evan had a drawer in his dresser and clothes in his closet. A crib was set up against the wall in his room for Lily, a changing table and dresser combination next to it. Her toys stayed in her crib when she wasn't there. A stroller sat at the front door, a baby swing in the living room, and a high chair at the dining room table. In just four months Eddie could no longer picture his and Christopher's lives without the other man and his daughter. And he never wanted to.

He knew technically Evan was still legally married to his husband. His abusive husband as Eddie had learned just after the new year. He and Evan had had a night alone just before Evan had moved into his own apartment. Maddie had taken Lily for the night and Christopher had a sleepover at Bobby and Athena's with Harry and Denny. Evan had opened about his marriage, about the abuse. But he also knew that Evan had filed for divorce from the man before Thanksgiving, they were just waiting for word that they had been signed and returned. Eddie was on edge for Evan, always looking around. Evan had shown him a picture of what the man looked like just in case he ever showed up, he didn't want Eddie to be blindsided, especially because Christopher. But Eddie also noticed at Thanksgiving Evan was no longer wearing his wedding band.

"Dad! Buck!" Christopher saw them before Carla as they entered the house.

Eddie was carrying Lily in his arms, her diaper bag over his shoulder. Christopher got up from the couch and headed for them, stopping as Eddie moved to the side for Evan to step into the house, crutches and all.

"Oh dear, what happened?" Carla asked as she walked up to them.

"Just a minor accident at work," Evan addressed Christopher as he saw the little boy's lip quiver, giving him a smile to show he was okay. "Twisted my ankle, been told to stay off it a few days."

"So you're okay?" Christopher asked as he stepped up to Evan and wrapped his arms around the man's legs.

"I'm his father and he bypasses me for you," Eddie huffed but he was smiling as he dropped the diaper bag on the floor.

"I'm good, Superman." Evan ran his hand through Christopher's curls before the boy backed up and turned towards his father.

"Hi dad," Christopher smiled up at him and hugged his legs as well.

"Hi, mijo." Eddie patted his back with his free hand. "Let me put sleeping beauty down for a nap." Eddie headed for the bedroom with Lily.

"You forgot sleeping beauty, here." Carla laughed as she grabbed onto Evan's arm as he swayed sleepily.

Eddie turned to look and snorted. "I can only carry one at a time. I think he'd squish her in my arms."

Evan stuck his tongue out even as Carla helped him to the couch. A similar action from the firehouse then happened. Carla fluffed pillows around him, Christopher covered him in a blanket and snuggled into his side, and Eddie propped his wrapped ankle onto the coffee table on a pillow. Within minutes Evan was snoring softly on the couch while Christopher silently snuggled his side, watching cartoons on low volume. Eddie watched them for a moment before following Carla into the kitchen where she had been working on dinner for the boys.

"Now tell me what really happened to that boy."

Eddie sighed and leaned his hip against the counter, arms crossed over his chest as he watched Carla add finishing touches to a salad she made to go with the baked pork chops and mashed potatoes. Sometimes Eddie really loved Carla. She was good with Christopher, and was a mother hen to both boys, now all three and Lily, but she wasn't overbearing like his own mother had been growing up. She knew when to push and when to let them stumble through something themselves, all with a steadying hand on their backs.

"Apartment building fire. We were just getting the last tenants out when he felt the floor beneath him shift. I stepped back in to grab him but instead had to react to grabbing the little girl he threw at me. One second he was there, and then he was gone with the floor." Eddie bowed his head then looked back up at the woman standing in front of him. "It took ten minutes to raise him on the radio but other then a few bruises and cuts, and his twisted ankle, he came out unscathed."

Carla nodded, "Well that's good then. He staying here while he has to stay off that foot?"

"Yeah. I called Maddie while he was getting x-rays at the hospital, just to be sure there wasn't a break or internal bleeding anywhere. She offered to take Lily but I didn't think Evan would like that. One night here or there without her he's okay with but more then that and I can see the panic in his eyes."

Carla nodded, also knowing Evan's full story. Evan had had a panic attack in front of her just over three weeks ago when Eddie had taken Lily on a walk with him and Christopher while Evan was in the shower. He had completely forgot he had told Eddie to go ahead and take her. When Eddie had returned and saw how panicked Evan was and why, Eddie always made sure when he had Lily that Evan was told more then once. She felt for the young man, but also saw how loved he felt being around Eddie and Christopher. She knew he and his daughter were in good hands with the Diaz boys.

Twenty minutes later Carla was out the door and the two men and Christopher sat at the table eating dinner. Evan had Lily in his lap feeding her mashed potatoes from his plate between sucks of her milk bottle. The little girl was just seven months old now, starting to sit up and even crawl around the house with Christopher following her everywhere. Once they realized Lily was crawling, Eddie suddenly found all his outlets with caps and bottom cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms with child locks. Both he and Evan looked at Carla who had just smiled at them the day they came home to it all. They found out the next day Maddie had done the same to Evan's apartment.

Eddie was not happy to say he was embarrassed when Carla had to open one of his kitchen cabinets because _dammit_ , apparently child proof also meant _Eddie proof_.


	5. Birthdays and Sleepovers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took me forever. I've been having some really bad mental health days and just couldn't bring myself to write much.... been doing a LOT of sleeping just to not deal. This is a lot shorter then I wanted but honestly, I didn't really know what to do since I'm struggling right now.

Evan was smiling when he pulled the door open to reveal Eddie and Christopher standing there. Eddie had a present bag in one hand, and an extra toy in the other. Evan's smile grew bigger at the sight of his boyfriend and boyfriend's son, and if Eddie noticed the look Evan was giving him, Eddie just smiled right back.

"Hey! Glad you guys could make it!" Evan moved to the side to allow entrance.

Eddie nodded and waited for Christopher to walk into the house first. "I hope we're not too late. Christopher couldn't decide which toy to get." Eddie laughed.

Evan laughed too as he excepted the hug to his legs from the boy. "No, they're actually still sort of setting up."

"Oh, so we're early then."

"No, more right on time," Evan laughed as he closed the door behind Eddie, "We're just running late. Elizabeth had a meltdown because she wanted to wear her Halloween costume instead of the new birthday outfit Maddie bought her last week."

Eddie followed Evan and Christopher through the house, dropping the present down on the kitchen table with the rest, to the backdoor and onto the deck. Chimney was being helped by Bobby at the grill while Hen and Karen were helping Maddie set up the tables with clothes and streamers.

"Hey, Eddie!" Hen was the first one that saw them.

"Hey," Eddie gave Maddie a hug as she turned towards him, "I already dropped Beth's present off at the table but this is for Lulu." He handed over the extra Barbie doll he had been holding.

"Oh, you didn't need to do that." Maddie smiled as she took the box from the brunet.

Eddie shrugged, "It's how my family did it when I was growing up, you know, keeping the peace between siblings."

Maddie nodded, "Of course, well thank you. I'm sure Olivia will be thrilled."

She squeezed Eddie's arm before turning back to Hen and Karen. Eddie looked around and found Christopher was already out in the yard playing with Harry and Denny. He quickly gave Hen and Karen hugs before going over to greet Bobby and Chimney. He had lost track of where Evan had gone, but he was still looking around for the blond.

Bobby clapped him on the shoulder, "He ran back inside to check on Lily, she's down for her nap."

"Thanks," Eddie sighed with a smile, knowing he wasn't being very discreet about his search for his boyfriend.

With one last look at Christopher playing with his friends, Olivia had joined them, Eddie headed back inside and quickly found Evan sitting in the living room with Lily in his lap, bottle in hand. The seven month old was drinking down some milk, with a fist full of cherrios. Eddie sat down next to Evan, their thighs pressed together.

"Hey," he whispered as he tucked his chin onto Evan's shoulder, his nose tickling the blond's neck. "Everything okay?"

Evan hummed and leaned more into Eddie, "He signed the papers."

Eddie sat up straight, "What? Really?"

"My lawyer called this morning, she got them in the mail yesterday." Evan was smiling and turned to look at the older man. "I'm free."

"You've been free for months, Evan." Eddie leaned back into his boyfriend's side, "You got out of one of the worse things a person could go through."

"Yeah, but this makes it official." Evan looked back down at Lily.

The little girl had finished her bottle and was reaching for Eddie. With a laugh, Eddie took her from Evan's lap and settled her into his own, facing him. Now free to move, Evan adjusted his body so he could lay his head on Eddie's shoulder, still watching his daughter as she played with the button's on Eddie's shirt. They sat like that silently, Lily babbling to herself as she continued to play with Eddie's shirt.

"You boys going to stay in here all day?" Hen asked as she came through the back door.

"Sorry, Hen." Evan sat up straight and stood. "I was feeding Lily and Eddie was keeping us company."

Eddie stood with Lily in his arms. He adjusted her on his hip to hold her in one arm so he could throw his other over Evan's shoulders as they followed Hen back outside. The boys and Olivia were still in the yard playing. Bobby and Chimney were bringing the grilled hamburgers, hotdogs and corn over to the table that Maddie and Karen had just finished decorating. Hen stepped up to Evan's other side as they walked through the door and leaned to whisper into his ear.

"Maddie told us, I'm happy for you." And then she was gone, going to call the kids to eat.

Evan just smiled, knowing she was talking about the exact thing he had just told Eddie back in the house. Evan had been floored when his lawyer had called that morning just as he had been getting himself and Lily ready. He had had to sit back down on his bed. It had taken months, Evan never believed his husband, ex-husband, would sign the divorce papers. He truly believed Doug would show up and cause havoc and fight Evan to return home, or worse. Evan shook his head to dispel those thoughts.

The three year olds birthday party went without a hitch - that wasn't a child's meltdown. They ate good food, spent time talking in good company, and Elizabeth loved all her new toys, ignoring the new clothes. It was pretty late in the evening when people started slowly saying their goodbyes and heading home. At the end Eddie and Christopher were the last ones still sitting around with them. Evan and Maddie were saying their goodbyes while tucking Olivia and Elizabeth - now in her big girls bed instead of a crib.

Eddie and Christopher followed Evan, with Lily in his arms, out the front door almost an hour after everyone else had already gone home.

"We'll follow you there, yeah." Eddie opened the door to his truck and helped Christopher up into the cab as he looked over at Evan, the younger man was half inside his jeep more then likely buckling Lily into her car seat.

"Uh, yeah." Evan emerged and turned to smile at Eddie. "You're sure about spending the night on a school night?"

Eddie shrugged as he double checked Christopher was settled before closing the door and taking the few strides to be standing in front of Evan, his hand coming to rest on the younger man's neck. "What's wrong?"

Evan sighed, it was weird how fast Eddie could almost read his mind. "This just feels different now. I'm free of him, and yeah we've been dating for months now... but."

"But," Eddie continued as Evan's voice trailed off. "You're suddenly divorced and this thing between us can be so much more." Eddie sighed, running his thumb over Evan's jaw. "If you're not ready I can take Christopher home and I will see you at work tomorrow night. Or we stay the night and nothing happens. We're in no rush, Evan."

Eddie had been surprised when Evan had called him early before the party asking for him and Christopher to spend the night. They usually only spent the night at each other's homes on weekends when Christopher didn't have school and they had the following day off so they could do family days. It was the one thing in their relationship they hadn't done yet because Evan hadn't been ready due to still technically being married. Sure they kissed and cuddled and slept in the same bed here and there, but that's all they ever did in bed - sleep. They hadn't gone further then that and Eddie was okay with it, had told Evan he would wait until the younger man was ready. With the call this morning Eddie had a feeling that was the reason for the impromptu sleepover. With them having the next day off, Christopher would be at school and Lily was easy enough to keep entertained for hours at a time being so young still.

Eddie blinked as suddenly Evan kissed him quickly before pulling away with a smile. "See you again in about twenty minutes, then?"

Eddie smiled back and nodded. "Hell, yeah."

The following morning had them rising earlier then normal because Eddie had to take Christopher to school and it was an extra ten minute drive from Evan's apartment then from Eddie's house to the school. After breakfast Eddie and Christopher had said goodbye to Evan and Lily, though Eddie would be returning for the day. Then that left Evan alone. Lily was playing on a blanket in the living room, baby gates now blocking her from going down the hall or into the kitchen now that she was getting more mobile.

Evan checked on her once before sitting down at the kitchen table with his phone in hand. He had only had a burner phone when he had been on the run for those two months, and even for the first month he was living with his sister. Now that he had a new phone, now that he was suddenly free - was once again Evan Buckley and not Evan Kendall - he had a call to make. Already having the number in his speed dial, Evan hit call. He was connected on the third ring.

A smile appeared on his face, "Lesley... it's Evan."

Evan was still talking to Lily's grandmother when Eddie returned an hour later. It was a testament to how safe Evan was now feeling that he didn't react to Eddie suddenly being at his side and kissing his temple in greeting, hadn't even heard him enter the apartment. Evan smiled up at him and grabbed his hand to give it a squeeze as Eddie walked past and into the kitchen to grab himself another coffee.

"Don't worry, I'll call again in a few days." Evan stood from the table. "And you have my number now. I'll send you all the pictures of Lily that I can, promise."

A few more words where exchanged while Eddie leaned his hip against the kitchen counter, taking a sip of his iced coffee, something he never thought he would like until he started dating Evan. The younger man always poured any leftover coffee from the machine into a jug and placed it into the fridge to make as iced coffee later. Eddie never thought he would like drinking cold coffee, but adding the Italian Sweet Creme that Evan introduced him to helped.

Evan hung up the phone, placed it on the counter and wrapped his arms around Eddie's waist, leaning into the older man. With his free arm, Eddie wrapped it around Evan's shoulders and poled him even closer, kissing the side of the blond's neck. "Was that Grace's parents?"

Evan hummed, "It's been five months since I've spoken to them. I knew they would be worried. As soon as she realized it was me on the line she started trying. Rick had to take the phone from her." He sighed, "They thought Doug had found us."

"But he hasn't."

Evan shook his head as he pulled back, "I think he has. Rick said that Doug went away on business for almost a month around Thanksgiving. Before I filed for divorce."

Eddie stiffened, "So he may have known all this time? Five months."

"I don't know," Evan shrugged, running a hand through his hair. "But if he has, I haven't seen him. He hasn't shown up anywhere that we know of." Eddie had to grab the younger man's hand from tugging at his hair. "And, I don't know. He filed. He actually signed the papers. Maybe... maybe he's actually just going to let us move on."

Eddie pulled Evan close again, kissing his temple. "I hope so but I'm still not convinced. If he's known this whole time..."

"Stop. I'm finally feeling safe, feeling at home. I don't want to think about it anymore." Evan closed his eyes and laid his forehead against Eddie's. "Please."

"I'm sorry," Eddie wrapped his arms around the blond. "I'm sorry, of course."

They spend the rest of their day before needing to get Christopher from school running errands, cuddling on the couch, playing with Lily, and just whatever they wanted. When they went to pick up Christopher they decided to have a family dinner out instead of going back home to cook something. They took Christopher to an arcade after dinner, letting him play all the old school games he wanted until he was tired and ready to head home. Eddie was just going to drop Evan and Lily off and take Christopher home but because tomorrow was Saturday and both Eddie and Evan had to work early, they had decided to have another sleepover. Eddie's Abuela had helped look after Lily as well as Christopher when needed and they knew she would be okay with looking after the little one while they worked since she was already going to have Christopher.


End file.
